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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25339411">Letters</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/faithlessone/pseuds/faithlessone'>faithlessone</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Stormheart - (M!Trevelyan/Cassandra) [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:47:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,060</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25339411</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/faithlessone/pseuds/faithlessone</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Left behind at Skyhold to research the disappearance of the Seekers, Cassandra finds herself missing Brennan.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cassandra Pentaghast/Male Trevelyan, Male Inquisitor/Cassandra Pentaghast</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Stormheart - (M!Trevelyan/Cassandra) [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1756030</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Letters</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Life at Skyhold without him is… different. It isn’t an experience she’s used to, being in his party as often as she is. She tries to fill her time as best she can, with training, reading, and her research, but there is a certain pallor across her days. A certain lack of light, that she fears will not return until he does.</p>
<p>The research is the important thing, though, and he knows it almost as well as she does. It is why he has left her at the fortress, while he journeys to the Exalted Plains to investigate the strange lack of fighting between Celene and Gaspard’s troops, and to close yet more rifts.</p>
<p>They have seen <em>no</em> sign of any of her fellow Seekers among the Red Templars. No trace of them anywhere else either. She has written letters, but she has no idea where to send them. Any ravens she sends out return with their burdens unopened. She must figure out where the Seekers are, if there are any of her brethren left...</p>
<p>Leliana is tasked with the hunt, officially; scouts and spies swarming across Thedas under her orders. But none of them are Seekers. None of them have her training, her experience, her knowledge. She pores over the information they send until her eyes ache, trying to see the things they have missed.</p>
<p>When even those drain dry, she goes looking for other reports. Seekers are rare, but… perhaps someone has come across one without even knowing it?</p>
<p>Cullen is her first port of call. It’s already late in the evening when she visits his tower, but he is well-known for being the last one to bed. She knocks on his door, entering without invitation when there is no response.</p>
<p>Perhaps he is taking a well-deserved evening in the tavern?</p>
<p>Or, more likely, another council meeting has run late into the night…</p>
<p>Either way, she suspects he won’t mind if she takes a quick look through the missives on his desk. She is half-expecting them to be neatly ordered, but if he has a filing system, she cannot discern it. Every pile seems to contain the same mixture of letters, field notes, and requests, not divided by purpose or sender or geography.</p>
<p>This will be a harder task than she thought.</p>
<p>She is so deep in trying to figure out how to approach her research that she doesn’t hear the door opening, or the heavy footsteps of Cullen (exhausted from helping Josephine review the guestlists for their upcoming sojourn to the Winter Palace) approaching the desk.</p>
<p>“Lady Pentaghast?”</p>
<p>She startles against her will, dropping the pile of dispatches in her hand and standing almost to attention as if she’s a wayward recruit.</p>
<p>“What are you doing?”</p>
<p>Clearing her throat, she scrambles for an answer. She should tell him the truth, he would likely understand, but… everything slips away from her mind.</p>
<p>He frowns at her hesitation, stepping forward to gather her dropped reports from the desk. Mostly troop movements in that pile, she knows, a letter from Rylan requesting yet more reinforcements, some supply requests, nothing incriminating. Nothing helpful either. But then his expression clears, reaching the bottom missive. She hadn’t got to that one, and has no idea what it might contain.</p>
<p>“He’s well, Cassandra,” he says, sympathy in his voice.</p>
<p>“He?” She feigns a lack of understanding, though her heart leaps. There’s only one ‘he’ in the Inquisition who needs no explanation, and she can’t deny she has been secretly longing for word of him since the scouts reported that he had reached their base camp.</p>
<p>Cullen quirks his eyebrow, not fooled at all. “The Inquisitor. He reports that came in contact with an encampment of Dalish, and he talked his way into recruiting one of them. It sounds like they will be good allies.”</p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>“He also reports that, in gaining their trust, he rescued a golden halla.”</p>
<p><em>That</em> piques her interest. “A what?”</p>
<p>“A golden halla,” he repeats. “I assume in colour, rather than material. He recounts chasing it, but doesn’t say it was enchanted. He also requests that someone ask Dennet if a herd of halla would do well at Skyhold. Not entirely sure what he expects to do with them, but I imagine Dennet will have some choice words for him.”</p>
<p>She nods in agreement.</p>
<p>Cullen fiddles with the letter for another handful of moments, and then replaces it on the desk with the others. “Was there… anything else?”</p>
<p>“Training, tomorrow,” she says, spur of the moment. Not what she should be talking about, but something she <em>has</em> been meaning to bring up to him. “I have a few drills in mind. For the reinforcements needed at the Western Approach keep.”</p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>“It is very… hot, there. They should try practising in more gear. Many layers of clothing. To acclimatise themselves.”</p>
<p>He raises his eyebrows in surprised agreement. “That’s… that’s a good plan. Did you want to-”</p>
<p>“If you wish,” she interrupts.</p>
<p>“Thank you.” He hesitates for a moment. “If there’s nothing else, I will see you tomorrow?”</p>
<p>She mentally kicks herself. This is pointless. A waste of time. Cullen is well informed of the reason that she remains at Skyhold while the Inquisitor’s party is away.</p>
<p>“There <em>is</em> one more thing.”</p>
<p>“Yes?”</p>
<p>“I was not… I was not looking for news of the Inquisitor.”</p>
<p>“Oh?” He tenses visibly.</p>
<p>“You are aware that I am trying to locate the rest of my order. The rest of the Seekers. I have exhausted what information Leliana’s spies have thus far sent, and I wished to examine your field reports for… abnormalities. Details that may have been overlooked.”</p>
<p>All at once, he smiles, shoulders relaxing, his whole body almost sagging in relief. Not the reaction she was expecting.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“My apologies, I just… I thought perhaps you were spying on <em>me</em>. Checking my work. Since Rylan left, I know I have been struggling a touch harder than usual.”</p>
<p>She hadn’t noticed.</p>
<p>Void take her, she has been so distracted recently.</p>
<p>“I trust you, Cullen. I trust that you will tell me if you cannot keep up.”</p>
<p>He nods. “Thank you. I’m not sure your trust is well-placed, but I will do my best to live up to it. Yours, and… the Inquisitor’s.”</p>
<p>“And the reports?”</p>
<p>“All yours. Would you like to examine them here, or should I have copies made and sent to you?”</p>
<p>“Here. There may be no useful information, I would not like to make more work for you.”</p>
<p>He nods again, smiling now. “I will clear a space for you.”</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>She quickly settles into a routine. Mornings are training, running drills with the new recruits the way she used to in Haven, when things were smaller and simpler. Afternoons are reading reports, sat at one end of Cullen’s (now much tidier) desk.</p>
<p>More reports trickle in from Leliana’s network. Everything seems to point to Ferelden; scattered reports of men and women she recognises, gathering in the country one by one. But that barely narrows it down, and there, the trail goes cold. If someone is calling the Seekers together, summoning them, why has no one contacted her? She curses the order’s endemic autonomy. It is so much harder to track them when they have little oversight from anyone outside the order.</p>
<p>Her suspicion that Corypheus has imprisoned them somewhere grows ever stronger. She can think of no other explanation for their disappearance.</p>
<p>She refuses to believe they are all dead. Not until they have <em>proof</em>.</p>
<p>The latest evidence they’ve found is news of Seeker Phina. She recognises the name, can put a face to it, but cannot remember the last time she saw her in person. Leliana’s people have tracked her as far as Denerim, but she is no longer there. A rumour says she went west after that, but, well, there is a lot of west. And who’s to say that she did not backtrack after leaving the city?</p>
<p>Nevertheless, her last known position and direction are added to Cassandra’s map. So many little arrows, but she can’t discern a pattern yet.</p>
<p>She leans back in her chair, frustrated and annoyed.</p>
<p>“Here’s another report from the Exalted Plains,” Cullen announces, pulling a fragment of parchment out from a tall pile of papers. “Well, I say ‘report’. I can’t say I’ve seen many this short. Hardly worth the raven’s energy.”</p>
<p>It is an obvious distraction, but it is a good one.</p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>“More undead, I assume.”</p>
<p>He hands the small scrap of parchment across to her. Ten words, and a signature. Left to his own devices, without her to write his reports for him, Brennan has a rather… <em>distinctive</em> style.</p>
<p>“Corpses! So many corpses! Why are there so many corpses?” she reads aloud, trying her best to imitate his no doubt outraged tone.</p>
<p>Cullen chuckles quietly. “I can’t imagine what he would have written about the Fallow Mire if you hadn’t been there to report for him.”</p>
<p>The memory makes her smile. “Much the same, I would assume. He was distinctly unhappy about it. Kept shouting at Sera for stepping in the water. I think she was doing it on purpose.”</p>
<p>“Sounds like her.”</p>
<p>She can’t help lightly running her fingers over the ink where the Inquisitor’s sigil (not his name, never his name) is scribbled below the meagre offering. It’s foolish, but she misses him. She isn’t sure whether she’d prefer to be with him, protecting him from the corpses and listening to him heartily complain about them, or for him to be here, with her, safe in the fortress, but she <em>misses</em> him.</p>
<p>“Which do you think he hates more? Corpses or giant spiders?” Cullen asks, distracting her again.</p>
<p>“Corpses,” she responds unthinkingly. “At least he can run away from the spiders.”</p>
<p>He chuckles softly, then flips through the other reports on his desk. “I think I saw… yes, here we are.” He hands over another, larger message. “I saw it this morning before drills, I quite forgot. Something else you might find interesting.”</p>
<p>It’s a report from one of the Inquisition’s chief engineers, requesting supplies for an excavation. Authorised by the Inquisitor, and signed by him. She resists the urge to run her fingers across it again. It would not do to get too maudlin.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Ten strong workers. Two junior engineers. Two guards for security. Three wagonloads of squared oak beam, one hundred seventy kegs of brown ale.’</em>
</p>
<p>“One hundred and seventy?” she asks, a little incredulous.</p>
<p>Cullen shakes his head, disbelievingly. “I know. It doesn’t seem enough, to be honest. But that’s all they’ve asked for.”</p>
<p>Not… enough?</p>
<p>She frowns at him, but he doesn’t seem to be joking. Perhaps it is a Ferelden quirk.</p>
<p>A knock on the door interrupts them; one of the runners, bringing another packet from Leliana.</p>
<p>“To work?” Cullen says.</p>
<p>She stretches her back, unused to so many hours sat in an unforgiving chair. More than anything she would like a bath, and perhaps to sit down in the weak winter sunlight with a book. But that would not be productive.</p>
<p>“To work,” she echoes.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Two more weeks pass, with little change. She continues her routine, with less and less news of any significance. Meanwhile, the Inquisitor races across the Exalted Plains, getting into all sorts of mischief.</p>
<p>“I believe he has fought another dragon,” Cullen tells her, passing a now-familiar scrap of parchment over to her.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Tell Cassandra it attacked me <strong>first</strong>.’</em>
</p>
<p>She sighs. “He does like to be cryptic, doesn’t he?”</p>
<p>“Almost as cryptic as Leliana. This one means nothing to me. Is it one of yours?”</p>
<p>He hands her another piece of parchment. Almost as small as the first, but with neater edges. She recognises the seal. One of Leliana’s spies.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Bann Loren is missing.’</em>
</p>
<p>The name seems familiar, but she can’t place it. She rifles through the pile of missives on her side of the desk, but nothing jumps out at her. Her head is splitting with the amount of information she has read. Such vague, vague information.</p>
<p>“Loren, Loren, Loren,” she mutters under her breath. “Where is he Bann… of?”</p>
<p>Cullen looks up from his own work, head tilted quizzically.</p>
<p>“Now that you say it, the name does sound familiar. Perhaps Josephine would know?”</p>
<p>She jumps at the chance to stretch her legs and see something other than the training ground or Cullen’s tower.</p>
<p>Josephine is in her office as usual. There is a tall stack of reports on her desk, that she happily pushes aside as Cassandra enters. The whole Inquisition runs on nothing but paperwork, it seems.</p>
<p>“Cassandra! What a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?”</p>
<p>“I am not disturbing you?”</p>
<p>Josephine laughs gently, straightening the stack. “Not at all. Just updates on the lie of the land for the Empress’ ball. Rumours, gossip, anything we can use to keep ourselves above water in the Game.”</p>
<p>It sounds dreadfully tedious.</p>
<p>“How… entertaining.”</p>
<p>Josephine shrugs lightly. “It will be worth it, I hope. Now, did you need me?”</p>
<p>“I received a note from one of the network that a Bann Loren is missing. It may be connected to the Seekers. Do you know of him?”</p>
<p>“Bann Loren?” She muses on the thought for a moment, and then smiles. “Yes. Of Caer Oswin in Ferelden. A quiet man. He keeps to himself. Pious, so they say. His wife and son were killed about ten years ago…”</p>
<p>“In the attack on Highever during the Blight,” Cassandra interrupts, the memory coming back to her. She had read extensively on the history of the Hero, especially after meeting Leliana. Perhaps <em>that</em> is why the name had sounded familiar to her.</p>
<p>“Quite so.”</p>
<p>“Did you know he was missing?”</p>
<p>She considers the question for a few seconds. “Now that you mention it, I do believe I heard something of the sort. Some rumour remarking upon the fact he had not been seen in society for a while. He was absent from a significant wedding, or some such thing. Unsuspicious, at the time. But if you think it is connected?”</p>
<p>Cassandra produces her map. “Can you show me the position of Caer Oswin?”</p>
<p>Josephine consults one of her many books, and then hovers her finger over a conspicuously bare patch of land west of Denerim. “Here.”</p>
<p>Carefully marking the position in red ink, Cassandra breathes. With that as a focus, the pattern seems to come clear. The arrows do not all point in its direction, but there is a flow, with Caer Oswin like the eye of a hurricane. It’s the first solid lead they’ve had, and with the Maker’s blessing, it may unlock the mystery.</p>
<p>“Do we have the resources to investigate?”</p>
<p>Josephine nods. “I can reach out to some mutual associates. Send a few polite letters. But the direct approach may prove more fruitful. Would you like me to call a war council meeting?”</p>
<p>The interminably long meetings, full of arguing-without-arguing are one thing she does not miss about Haven, now that she has resigned from the council.</p>
<p>She shakes her head. “I am certain that the Inquisitor will not mind taking a slight diversion from protocol. Stealth may be more to our advantage than diplomacy or brute strength. I will ask Leliana directly.”</p>
<p>There is a small, somewhat knowing, smile playing around Josephine’s mouth, but she doesn’t ask. The inner workings of the ambassador’s mind are a mystery best left unsolved.</p>
<p>“I will leave you to your gossip.”</p>
<p>Josephine nods. “This was a pleasant diversion. Good luck, Cassandra.”</p>
<p>“Thank you.”</p>
<p>She departs, heading straight up to the rookery at the top of the tower. As usual, Leliana is there, but knelt in prayer at her shrine. Cassandra waits, patiently. It reminds her of the days before the Inquisition, when they would pray together, one inevitably waiting for the other to finish. She takes the chance to send a silent plea to Andraste. Her usual litany of close-kept desires. To guide her steps and sword, to show her the truth of any situation, to keep him safe and bring him back to her.</p>
<p>“What brings you here?” Leliana’s voice pulls her out of prayer.</p>
<p>Cassandra produces the original scrap of paper. “Bann Loren. I assume this was your information?”</p>
<p>Leliana nods. “Was it helpful?”</p>
<p>She spreads the map out on Leliana’s table. “The blue arrows represent the last known locations and bearings of the Seekers. The red dot is Caer Oswin, Bann Loren’s seat.”</p>
<p>“I see.”</p>
<p>“Do you have any agents that can be dispatched to investigate the castle?”</p>
<p>“I do.”</p>
<p>Cassandra waits, but Leliana says nothing more.</p>
<p>“Well, can you send them?”</p>
<p>Leliana smiles enigmatically. “Consider them already on their way, Cassandra. You will be the first to know if I hear word from them.”</p>
<p>Sometimes, the spymaster <em>really</em> gets on her nerves.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Another two weeks pass, with nothing to do but train and read and wait for news from Leliana’s agents, getting more and more frustrated. The Inquisitor has been gone from Skyhold for almost seven, and she finds herself re-reading the reports and letters he sends, over and over again, trying to read between the lines.</p>
<p>More undead.</p>
<p>Liberating an Orlesian fort.</p>
<p>More undead.</p>
<p>Collecting letters from soldiers’ bodies.</p>
<p>More undead.</p>
<p>Delivering a ring from a dying woman.</p>
<p>Yet more undead.</p>
<p>He seems to vacillate between the short fragments of parchment, clearly torn from larger pieces, and rambling letters, often addressed to multiple recipients, with no rhyme nor reason. They all seem to end up on <em>her</em> section of Cullen’s desk, however. She chooses not to think too hard about that.</p>
<p>One is addressed specifically to her.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘For Cassandra,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I found Ser Hildebrandt in the Crow Fens. He was on your list, so I dispatched him. Easy fight, please don’t worry. I’m just sorry you weren’t here to do it yourself.’</em>
</p>
<p>The bottom of the parchment is ripped off, and his sigil is crammed into a small space to the right of the last line of text.</p>
<p>Was there more to the letter? Words that he wrote and then regretted, tearing them away so she could not see the ghost of the text that always remains even if you cross it out? Does he miss her the way she misses him? It seems unbelievable, but recently, she has been beginning to wonder. Wonder if his regard for her might be more than…</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>She can’t let herself think that way. Not right now, not with… <em>everything</em> going on around them.</p>
<p>Putting the letter away in a drawer with the others, she gets up and makes her way to the rookery. Though the runners are under strict orders to find her the moment Leliana releases any news, she likes to check for herself every now and again.</p>
<p>The breeze is cold, but there are signs of spring in the air. Absently, she wonders if the Inquisitor will return before the flowers start to bloom.</p>
<p>Leliana is in the rookery, conversing in hushed tones with one of her scouts. Cassandra recognises him, but cannot remember his name. She hangs back, waiting, feeding a few treats to the birds in their cages. It helps to keep them happy.</p>
<p>When the scout leaves, she approaches.</p>
<p>“Any word?”</p>
<p>There is something akin to concern in the spymaster’s usually unreadable face. “No. And Wren reports that the last set of ravens have returned, notes still attached. No one to receive them.”</p>
<p>“Can we send another agent?”</p>
<p>Leliana shakes her head. “I have sent two teams already. It is pointless to send more, when we do not know why they have been lost. I hate to say it, but perhaps brute force is needed.”</p>
<p>“Or a Seeker.”</p>
<p>It’s not the first time the thought has occurred to her. She should have insisted from the beginning, rather than send Leliana’s spies. Though the absence of the Seekers is troubling, and likely connected to Corypheus, it does not <em>need</em> to fall under the remit of the Inquisition. She <em>should</em> have gone herself. The more time she wastes here, in the fortress, the more likely it is that the Order is lost.</p>
<p>“<em>No</em>, Cassandra.”</p>
<p>“Why not?”</p>
<p>“If it is Corypheus, or one of his minions, I will not allow you to send yourself into a trap.”</p>
<p>“And if it is the Seekers going into hiding?”</p>
<p>Leliana gives her a look. One that says she is being reckless and foolish. It is not a look she enjoys receiving, but it only makes her resolve stronger.</p>
<p>“We must take this to the council.”</p>
<p>So three voices can try to talk her out of it instead of one. It does not matter. She sets her mind on the solution, and will not be dissuaded.</p>
<p>In the war room, Leliana explains the situation fully, recounting each piece of supporting information, despite the facts that Josephine and Cullen are both well aware, and that half of the rumours and whispers are largely irrelevant. Cassandra is certain that it is a delaying tactic, but she allows her to do it. The more time they spend pointlessly repeating the facts of the matter, the more likely it is that at least one of them will tire and agree to her plan.</p>
<p>“And therefore Cassandra requests permission to go to Caer Oswin and investigate the situation for herself,” Leliana finishes, several minutes later.</p>
<p>“I am not <em>requesting permission</em>,” she argues, shooting an irritated glare at the spymaster. “I am informing you of my intentions.”</p>
<p>“Cassandra, please see reason.” Josephine’s voice has taken on a pleading tone that she does not like at all. “We have no communication from Caer Oswin. Leliana’s agents are out of contact, and my enquiries have gone unanswered. It is very likely that Corypheus or his representatives have control of the area. To send you in would be suicide.”</p>
<p>“<em>You</em> would not be <em>sending</em> me anywhere.”</p>
<p>“The Inquisitor would not approve,” Leliana tries.</p>
<p>“The Inquisitor is well aware of the importance of my search,” she bites back. “We discussed the matter fully before his departure. It is the only reason I am not in the Exalted Plains with him now.”</p>
<p>“He would not be happy that we let you go without him.”</p>
<p>Void take Cullen.</p>
<p>Right to the darkest, most nightmare-demon-spider-infested, pits of the Fade, which she is now, unfortunately, <em>intimately</em> acquainted with. Of all the things he could have said, he has to pick the one argument that cuts her to the quick.</p>
<p>Leliana pounces on it. “He would <em>not</em>. At least wait for him to return, Cassandra. We will hold another meeting, and decide on the best course of action.”</p>
<p>For the briefest moment, she considers sneaking out of Skyhold, and making her own way to the castle. But then she imagines the likely look on Brennan’s face when he returned and found her gone without him. Or, worse, the look on his face if he returned and she was lost, like Leliana’s agents.</p>
<p>She nods reluctantly, resenting her own void-taken feelings.</p>
<p>Josephine smiles. “Then we will adjourn for now. Leliana, if news of your agents should arrive?”</p>
<p>“We will reconvene immediately.”</p>
<p>They depart with nods and smiles. A short meeting, for once.</p>
<p>She retrieves her sword from her attic, and spends a full hour taking out her frustrations on the training dummies. It doesn’t help as much as she thinks it should, but by the end of it, she is exhausted in a pleasant way, her thoughts in order.</p>
<p>A letter.</p>
<p>She will send the Inquisitor a letter, telling him of the situation.</p>
<p>Once she puts pen to paper, though, she realises she has no idea what to say. She’s never… <em>written</em> to him before. They are near constantly in each other’s company, and on the rare occasions she is not in his party, she has no need to write to him. Any message she needs sent can easily be added to a missive from Cullen or Leliana.</p>
<p>How does she address him?</p>
<p>How does anyone else address him?</p>
<p><em>‘Inquisitor,’</em> she writes, and immediately regrets it. Should there be a salutation? ‘For’, or ‘to’, or, Maker take her, ‘dear’? Should she call him by name, the way he likes? No. She must keep it simple.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Inquisitor,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>You may remember that I have been investigating the disappearance of the Seekers.’</em>
</p>
<p>Well, that is anything but simple. Of course he remembers why he left her behind in Skyhold. A pointless waste of ink and parchment to remind him. She scores it out. This will have to be a draft, to be rewritten when she has finalised the wording.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Inquisitor,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <strike>You may remember that I have been investigating the disappearance of the Seekers</strike>
  </em>
  <em>. There has been a lead in the case of the missing Seekers. Caer Oswin. Two teams of Leliana’s agents have already investigated, but they too have gone missing.</em>
</p>
<p>No. Don’t tell him about the missing agents. Not in a letter. It will worry him needlessly.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Inquisitor,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <strike>You may remember that I have been investigating the disappearance of the Seekers</strike>
  </em>
  <em>. There has been a lead in the case of the missing Seekers. Caer Oswin. <strike>Two teams of Leliana’s agents have already investigated, but they too have gone missing.</strike>  I would like to investigate the castle myself, with your leave. If you would accompany me, please return to Skyhold as soon as you can.</em>
</p>
<p>‘As soon as you can’? It sounds like a demand. She cannot make demands of him. And ‘with your leave’? She rarely asks his permission for anything. He will try to read something into it. No.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Inquisitor,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <strike>You may remember that I have been investigating the disappearance of the Seekers</strike>
  </em>
  <em>. There has been a lead in the case of the missing Seekers. Caer Oswin. <strike>Two teams of Leliana’s agents have already investigated, but they too have gone missing.</strike>  I would like to investigate the castle myself, <strike>with your leave</strike>. If you would accompany me, please return to Skyhold <strike>as soon as you can</strike>. at your earliest convenience.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Cassandra</em>
</p>
<p>Should there be a valediction? ‘Regards’ or ‘sincerely’ or ‘yours’? Should she use her name at all? The others use their symbols, their sigils. Should she draw the Seekers’ eye instead? She sketches it on the bottom of the paper, lopsided and out of proportion. Art has never been her forte. Something easier?</p>
<p>She pulls out a fresh sheet, reading and re-reading her draft until the words don’t look like words at all.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Inquisitor,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>There has been a lead in the case of the missing Seekers. Caer Oswin. I would like to investigate the castle myself. If you would accompany me, please return to Skyhold at your earliest convenience.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>C’</em>
</p>
<p>He will understand. She hopes.</p>
<p>Blotting the ink carefully, so it doesn’t smudge, she rolls up the short missive. If she goes to the rookery now, there should be a bird free to take it.</p>
<p>She barely gets three steps from the armoury when the bells toll.</p>
<p>Her heart pounds. It isn’t often that she hears them. Is this the peal for danger? For an attack?</p>
<p>Then she notices people emerging from the buildings and tents around her, going up to the battlements or down to the drawbridge.</p>
<p>The <em>Inquisitor</em>.</p>
<p>The reason she doesn’t recognise the pattern, is because it is the one that means the Inquisitor’s party has been sighted.</p>
<p>He… he did not send word that he was coming. Has a bird gone missing? What does that mean? Could Leliana’s agents have sent messages after all?</p>
<p>She sees Varric emerge from the keep, standing on the top of the steps where he has a good view of the lower courtyard. He waves at her.</p>
<p>Should she go down? The area around the drawbridge is busy with people, so she decides against it, lingering in the upper courtyard near the tavern. Her whole body is filled with nervous, electric energy, and she cannot work out exactly why.</p>
<p>The letter is crushed in her hand. Not that she needs it now, of course.</p>
<p>He’s <em>back</em>.</p>
<p>A quarter hour passes before she hears the ripple of cheers that signify the party is on the bridge. She usually hears them from the other direction, but they are no less welcome today.</p>
<p>She waits patiently, watching as the party arrive, and deal with the business of stabling the mounts and unloading their packs. Surely she shouldn’t bother him now? He will be tired from the journey. After, there will be the debrief with his council, and whatever concerns he needs to deal with now he’s home. So many responsibilities on his shoulders.</p>
<p>But then, impossibly, he’s beside her.</p>
<p>“Good afternoon,” he says, a grin on his face that rivals the sun, now shining brightly above her.</p>
<p>“Welcome back, Inquisitor.”</p>
<p>He raises an eyebrow, and glances around them. Everyone has gone back to their daily occupations. They are alone.</p>
<p>“Welcome back… Brennan,” she amends softly.</p>
<p>Somehow, his smile grows even brighter at her simple use of his name. “A little bird tells me that your research has been fruitful?”</p>
<p>She can’t help her suspicious frown. He has been back in Skyhold for all of five seconds. “Which little bird?”</p>
<p>He laughs. “Leliana’s not the only one with spies here, Cassandra. No matter. Caer Oswin. Shall we depart tomorrow morning? You can choose the rest of the party, but I would suggest not taking Bull. He took a bit of a nasty blow from a Revenant while we were in the Plains and I promised him some time off.”</p>
<p>It takes her an extra moment to parse his words. “Tomorrow? But… you just got back!”</p>
<p>“No time like the present. And it’s important to you, so it’s important to me.”</p>
<p>“But… your council meeting…”</p>
<p>“Cassandra,” he interrupts, suddenly serious, his hand folding over hers, his thumb rubbing comfortingly across her fingers. “Everything can wait.”</p>
<p>“If… if you are certain.”</p>
<p>“I am. Excellent. Think about who you want to take with us. We’ll go to the war room and plan out the journey.” Then he holds up a small leather sack, wispy tendrils of ice magic emanating from it. “I’ll be back in a minute. I just have to go and give Vivienne this wyvern’s heart.”</p>
<p>She nods, grateful.</p>
<p>It’s only after he leaves, as she replays his words in her head, that she frowns.</p>
<p>Why in Thedas does Vivienne need a wyvern’s heart?</p>
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